(Drum Roll)...And My Word for 2013 is...

6:52 PMHeather

I began praying through and thinking on my word for 2013 about a month ago.  In the very first instant, a word came to mind.  But, as usual, I had to chew on and be sure and think through it and ponder and debate.  Just ask my sister from our frequent shopping trips... sometimes, decisions don't come easily to me.  

I was feeling pretty secure about this word, and suddenly another came to mind this week.  Hmm.  Contestant #2 really spoke to two particular circumstances in my life.  Actually, the two biggest burdens on my heart these days.

What now?!  

So, yesterday, my mind kept returning to this conundrum.  I just knew you'd all be waiting with bated breath-- in pure agony waiting to hear my final choice.  I had to know!  As my new year purging hit full tilt yesterday, I was clearing out our book shelves.  And, there it was.  A book that I won in a little ice breaker contest at a ladies' luncheon a few years ago.  Ironically enough--the ice breaker was about finding the most OCD lady in the room.

Yep, ladies and gentlemen, this girl won.  All the while, my dear friends sitting at my table laughed hysterically throughout the contest as I was the last one standing.   

And, so, I present to you, my word for 2013...

...gratitude.  The book on the shelf that I won?  Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  Looks like I know what I'm reading next.

Gratitude.  I was actually diving into that subject last spring by reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  I was challenged by her epiphany that gratitude and discontent cannot co-exist.  In fact, I was so challenged by her writing that I had to read slowly.  One little chapter at a time, digesting it bit by bit.  

Then, I had an interesting conversation with my dear Auntie Peggy.  She made an off hand Peggy-type comment on the book which made me laugh out loud.  And, I have to admit--I was never able to dive back into the book.  It still sits proudly on my bedside table, on the top of the little stack of books I never finished.  You know how it goes.  You skip a day and then two, and before you know it, you never finish what you started.
 
But, I guess God wasn't finished with me on that gratitude thing.  Don't you hate it when He won't leave you alone about something?  Or actually love/hate it?  

Gratitude.  I think it's something I want to bring to the family to chew on with me in the next twelve months.  I think we can all stand to cure discontent with a big dose of gratitude.  

And, so begins my journey in 2013.  Gratitude.  I'll start at the beginning, as I always do.  With a definition.

Gratitude--the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.  Thankfulness. Warmly or deeply appreciating kindness or benefits received.     

So, last night I thought I'd kick the tires on this whole gratitude thing.  I was way out of sorts from traveling and being out of a routine and a sick child and a chaotic house and a rather out of sync sleeping schedule.  You know.  My life was coming to an end.  

I was grumpy.  

Then, I had that zinger thought to consider gratitude.  I ate my piece of humble pie and went to seek out my long suffering husband to thank him for a kindness he'd shown me.   And, I made time to stop and ask the Lord to bring to mind other things to be thankful for.  

Such as gratitude for the fact we got to travel.  And that we had the luxury of not having a schedule or places to be.  Then, that I had only one sick child not three--and her sickness is of the boring garden-variety upper respiratory type, nothing life threatening.  Next was the fact that we have all these clothes that are in big piles waiting to be folded.  And, all the other "things" we own that are currently not living up to my OCD requirements in this great place we call home.   

As for that out of sync sleeping schedule?  But, of course.  Grateful for the latest Project Runway All Stars episode to entertain me as I faced insomnia.

What do ya know?  Gratitude chased my grumpies away.  Maybe there's something to this whole thing?  

Time shall tell.  Won't you join me on my gratitude journey?!       

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